The weather on Sunday was remarkable for November. Visitors from the Sheffield area commented on how nice and sunny it was at Blacktoft compared to home. I started my day with a visit to the hides so that I could tell visitors which birds were on the reserve. As the high tide last weekend put water in front of Ousefleet hide, I started there.
A juvenile mute swan was the only bird on Marshland lagoon. Larry, the white tailed lapwing had Xerox lagoon to himself. First, Townend and Singleton were all very quiet with only marsh harriers visible.
A kestrel was also hunting close to the hides and this sparrowhawk was sat in a bush opposite the visitor centre.
a ladybird appeared on one of the outside notice boards.
The sun started to shine and the birds started to move from lagoon to lagoon, partly because there was always a marsh harrier hunting, and often there would be 4 of them.
By mid afternoon the weather had changed. It became quite cloudy and by the time that the visitor centre closed at 4pm it was quite dark, The marsh harriers had been active during the day and there was no great roost to observe so by 4:45 I locked the main gates.
Today, Tuesday I went to Greatham Creek in the hope of seeing twite and long tailed duck. It was mid morning when I arrived and the tide had started to come in.
Lots of golden plover, but the light was very poor. The wind was also strong and the birds often took to the air.
I could not see what was disturbing them. I thought that I caught a glimpse of a merlin, but the viewing screen is useless when trying to follow birds in flight.. The screen comprises of lots of circular holes so your field of view is limited. It might be good from an art point of view, but I don't like it. There was no sign of the long tailed duck so I decided to walk to hide overlooking Seal Sands.
5 or so decades ago when I first started to visit the area, this was the main birding area. Saltholme reserve did not exist and the improvements at Greatham Creek are only recent. S o we would wander along the paths in the brine fields hoping to see birds but not security people.
Towards South Gare, shelduck curlew, redshank were feeding near the exposed mud. In the centre of the water I managed to see the long tailed duck. I always find that these birds seem to spend a lot of time under the water and are not easy to follow. There were 11 red breasted mergansers on the water and three of them were a bit closer to the hide.
I walked back to the viewing screen and noticed that a few plants were still adding colour on a grey dull day.
not brilliant photos as I was using my phone and the wind was blowing the flowers.
About half way back to the road I noticed a small flock of birds flying about and stopped to look at them. They were twite, so I had managed to see both target birds.
Back at the viewing screen there was no sign of the long tailed duck. A few seals were on the mud banks.
Not as many as usual, as I presume the others are at places like Donna Nook. As the water level got higher birds were feeding close to waters edge.
I checked the tidal pool again on my way back to the car but nothing new. It started to rain so I drove home. A good day with two ticks, just 9 more for my year target. Where shall I go tomorrow?
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